Rationality
by ShadeSlayerFox
Summary: He read once long ago that knowledge was power. Thus the simple proverb changed the course of history for the young prince.
1. Chapter 1

It was warm and humid in the palace and despite the youths heritage and upbringing he had always found himself annoyed by the heat and had often tried to be as far from it as possible. This was the reason that he found himself incapable to sleep that night and so, after numerous hours of struggling, tossing, and turning in his overly damp sheets. He huffed in annoyance as he sat up.

The lad quickly dressed and moved his way from the room into the halls until he finally found himself in front the small doors of the royal library. Tall and imposing shelves surrounded him from every side upon his entrance into it's dimly lit and narrow halls that were filled to the brim with knowledge of generations past.

He quickly foraged through the shelves as he looked for one of many scrolls that he hadn't already read. He may not have been the ultimate fire bending prodigy like his sister but he made up for it in memory retention. So in the dim confines of an isolated library the young crown prince of the fire nation read in peaceful silence.

:)

Zuko breathed deeply aboard his small fire nation frigate as his uncle watched on with patience as he slowly sipped from a warm cup of steaming tea. A small band of fire benders surrounded the prince. For a moment everything was still...and then the prince lunged forward with bright red flames surrounding his clenched fist as he threw himself at the least prepared of the group. The soldier in question hesitated in fear before he sent a blast of fire at the prince. It surrounded him and for a moment the soldier feared that he had killed him until the prince flew from the billowing flames unharmed and kicked the soldier in the chest who fell on his behind and flew across the deck where he collided against the railing with a loud clang as metal struck metal.

The other combatants stared at their Comrade in astonishment as he laid against the railings of the ship unconscious. Then they attacked the prince once more. It was a spar worthy of the greatest tapestries as the prince fought against his opponents with fluid grace as their flames did nothin to him as though he were truly one with the flame until he incapacitated all who had been courageous enough to fight the prince as his punching bags.

He stood victoriously as he stared down at his fallen men and sighed contentedly before he stepped over them towards his uncle who was busy pouring another glass of tea which he held out to the approaching prince who accepted it gratefully and sat next to the eating man.

"Your form is good Prince Zuko, but you must remember that fire can only be generated by intense emotion." Iroh spoke sternly but with deep understanding of his nephews condition. "I know uncle I just have difficulty summoning any anger..." Zuko replied sadly as he sipped his tea. "...do you think I'm right uncle. Do think the avatar is out here." Iroh looked at left side of his nephews face and sighed.

"What you say does make sense my nephew, if I were the avatar then I too would run to the isolated south to avoid our nation, but..." Suddenly without warning a beam of light pierced the sky and shrouded all who witnessed it with a dim glow. "...if I hadn't believed you before I sure do believe you now." Zuko didn't hear him though as he slowly approached the front of the ship with a triumphant smirk. "Helmsman, set course for the light." He ordered as one thought encompassed his mind. 'I was right.'

Meanwhile Iroh stared on with a look of shock and concern before he finally sighed and he pulled a small token from his pocket. "It's seems that he's back, I'll need to tell the others." He said to himself as he stared down at the small faded white lotus tile in his palm. Suddenly his body lunged forward as the helmsman changed course and the tile in his palm flew from his grasp and into the freezing waters below. Irohs eye twitched slightly as he realized he would need to get another tile when the opportunity allowed. He turned and stared at the slowly disappearing light and knew that destiny would do with them as it willed.


	2. Disembark

Zuko took a small sip of his herbal tea as moved one of his many tiles across the board which caused his uncle sweat slightly as he tried to think of an appropriate counter-strategy. He thought quickly but carefully as he moved a single causing his nephew to nod impressed. "Interesting, usually you'd have won by now but you're not using your lotus tile...odd." Zuko observed aloud causing the Iroh to chuckle nervously. "Well...I can't expect to beat you with the same trick forever you know." He said with a half truth as mentally slapped himself for losing the tile only a day before. Zuko nodded at the mans words before he turned and stared out the observation decks windows which allowed the sun to light his unblemished face.

Zuko said nothing as he considered that avatar might be long gone by now considering that almost a full day had vanished since the beam of light appeared. Tension had since coiled in his gut both in silent anticipation and trepidation at the thought of facing am avatar, especially one with over a hundred years experience at bending the elements...or at least some of them.

When Zuko had begun his exile in search of the avatar he'd realized that he had nearly no chance of him finding him or her let alone capturing them. Zuko in turn had to cut down on the possible locations that the avatar could be hiding, so he used the almighty concept of logic.

He had immediately disregarded the air temples because of his grandfather and his great grandfathers thorough searches in the past that had led to nothing but wasted time.

Second Zuko came to another conclusion that the avatar had not entered the earth kingdom or fire nation, since the genocide of nearly every Airbender, due to the lack of rumors concerning the avatar over the last. This led to two other assumptions that the avatar was in an isolated location and...that the avatar couldn't have possibly knew how to Earthbend or Firebend. This relieved the tremendously because while capturing an avatar would be an incredibly difficult task in and of itself, capturing a fully realized avatar would be impossible.

So with this theory in mind Zuko hypothesized that the avatar had to be in one of two locations. The Northern or Southern water tribes.

"Zuko!" Iroh finally yelled getting the princes attention and bringing him about the present. Zuko turned and blinked at the older man in surprise. "Yes Uncle." He answered quickly. Iroh chuckled loudly

"It seems that a my nephew has his mind set on a girl." He assumed wrongly and causing the prince to twitch slightly in annoyance.

"Uncle I've been at sea for almost three years with no contact with a woman." He explained as he grasped the bridge of his nose to ward off against the approaching headache. "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking about." He finished sarcastically

Suddenly a the sky lit up once more much like the day before. Instead of a beam of light being the source it was instead a distress flare from a nearby fire nation ship. Zuko stood quickly and grabbed a telescope off a nearby counter and focused on the flare through it. He eyed the flare for only a moment before followings it's smoke trail to its launch which was a trapped frigate that was stuck within the ice.

This however was not what garnered his interest. It was instead the small figure that was he could just barely see hopping from the side and rushing for the the ship to the West. He turned the magnifying device it said direction and found a small village.

A smirk formed on his face and he put the telescope down. He quickly turned to the helmsman and putted in the in the direction and the settlement and gave the order for him to change course before he rushed from the room to get his battle armor.

It was only a an hour before the prince emerged from his chambers garbed in dark metal battle armor as the helmsman slowed the water-craft several miles from the icy coast. He nodded to the man before turning to his uncle. "Is the transport ready to be deployed?" Iroh nodded quickly. "Good. If I'm not back in six hours then have the rest of the men move in." He finished before he exited the room and headed down to the lower decks where he depart to the southern water tribe.

:)

Sokka stood tense as he glared into the arctic fog in search for his approaching foe. His stance was rigid from atop his self constructed wall that had been made entirely by himself.

His gaze widened once he spotted it rapidly coming towards him. He tensed and stood his ground as i smacked him in the face. "Gah!" He snarled penguitross flew away calling as it went. Sokka grumbled as he stood.

He glared once more before he sighed and sat upon the snowy wall. Thats when he spotted the small metal craft as it approached quickly and stopped just inches from the ice. A large spike exploded from it and into the thin sheet thus anchoring it in place.

A pale male stepped from the craft with a small wooden box at his side and cast a glance over the landscape until it fell on him before it quickly changed back to the landscape. Sokka's eye twitched visibly once he realized that the other male had ignored him. He quickly grasped his boomerang and threw it at his target.

Fire nation warrior in a show of lightning fast reflexes snatched the weapon out the air pivoted and threw it back with rapid speed and precision. It smacked into Sokka's forehead with enough force to fall from his wall and smack into the village foundation and he saw stars as the breath was knocked out of him. The last thing he saw was Katara's and his Gran's worried expressions before he blacked out.

:)

Zuko sighed as he entered the small village. His mild irritation was concealed under a layer of apathy as he spotted what looked to the entire villages population congregated the edge of its wall. He shook his head at the open display which only caused him to wonder how the small...village had not been completely wiped out by raiders long ago. "Hello!" He called causing the majority to look back at him in shock and fear. "I come in peace! I just need some information!" He called as mentally smiled all the while 'this is going to be even easier than I expected.'


	3. Diplomat

He sat staring at the dark haired girl in front of him. An arrogant smirk was curled onto her face in an effort to intimidate the adolescent Zuko but he continued to stare at her apathetically. Her smirk only deepened as she moved a single pawn and took his queen. "You know you should just give up Zuzu." She sneered. "Hm..." Zuko said hardly paying attention to her as he moved his own pawn across the and taking another pawn. The girly confused as once more took another of his pieces. Zuko smirked as he moved his rook. "Checkmate" he declared causing the little girl to quickly examine the board and saw that his words were true. Her cheeks puffed in anger as she slapped the board to the side. Zuko didn't even blink as the girl stomped off. He shook his head as he sat up and grabbed the fallen board and its various pieces.

:)

Zuko silently observed the elder across from him. Her skin was leathery and wrinkled from exposure to the sun in the hazardous Arctic wasteland. She laboriously onto a mat and gave the firebender a small glare which the prince easily ignored to instead glance at the woman's granddaughter who easily matched her Grandmothers glare as she also sat. "What do you want from us firebender." Zuko chuckled slightly as the woman brushed aside any pleasantries and faced the main issue with an urgency; no doubt to get him to leave as quickly as possible.

"Information" he replied as he stared down at the sitting woman with a hint of exaggerated emphasis "I'm on a small quest. I'm looking for an Airbender." The younger woman flinched slightly; she knew exactly who he was talking about. Never the less Zuko continued. "I'm willing to give anything to anyone who can provide me even the slightest clue about his whereabouts." He finished as he cracked open the wooden box in his hands before he quickly closed it. Once more the girls eyes widened in shock...and desire as she spotted the small collection of water scrolls within its confines.

"Where did you get that?" She demanded, only for her grandmother to quickly silence her.

"Silence Katara!" The woman responded before her eyes immediately came to rest on the handsome prince. "I'm afraid there are no Airbenders here firebender...or anywhere for that matter; considering Fire Lord Sozin causing their genocide." She gritted out. Zuko nodded solemnly agreeing with her.

"Well then thank you for your time." He said courteously as he bowed to the woman. Her expression didn't change as the young Prince left the Igloo.

:)

Zuko stood at the edge his metal craft as it sat idly amongst the many icebergs several miles away from the small village. A spyglass was pressed against his eye as he observed it silently. A smirk crossed onto his lips as he watched a small figure rushing from the villages icy walls. 'I got you now Avatar.' He thought as went into the craft and fired up its engines as he slowly followed.

:)

Aang sighed as he scratched Appa's side. A sense of loneliness lingered in his soul as he contemplated what he should do and whether he should return to the Southern Air Temple.

"Aang!" A cry burst out, getting his attention. He looked towards the source of the noise and surprise crawled onto his face when he saw the blue coat and the brown hair.

"Katara!" He yelled down excitedly before leaping down from his hiding spotted to meet her. He landed down in front the girl. "How are..." He was cut off quickly

"You have to get out of here!" She said quickly "A Firebender came by the village looking for..." She was also quickly cut off a small Fire ball careened over their heads and against the ice. Appa growled as he landed and quickly extinguished the flame with a quick burst of air.

"Greetings Avatar!" The young prince said as he walked towards the group. Katara's eyes immediately widened as she stared at her newest friend.

"I will not lie. I had honestly expected someone much...older." Aang stared at him nervously. "No matter, I am Prince Zuko of the fire nation, and you are coming with me..." The prince spoke.

"No Aang don't!" Katara said to the Airbender as she moved to step between the two. Zuko gave the girl a glare before he once more directed his attention to the near adolescent boy.

"...if you don't then a platoon of Firebenders will burn a certain little village to the ground. Make you choice Avatar." Katara and Aang stared at the prince in horror. Aang looked towards Katara with a tender look. "Alright" he said to Zuko "i'll come with you."

A smirk rose onto Zuko's face. "I knew you'd see it my way."


End file.
